JLUniversity

RP Levels

Where do you stand?

Placement

If you would like to know where on our scale you fall, you may post a sample post once every two weeks in our "Grade Me" room on the discord server. Staff will then grade your sample post and assign you a level based on grammar, spelling, and other similar factors. Please do not post any sooner than two weeks from your last post, and remember to read the room's pins before you post.

The purpose of these grades is to give you more direction on what you may wish to focus on in terms of improvement. Resources for improvement are included in each level.

Fresh Off the Boat
You might need a bit of a refresher on the rules of roleplay, or maybe you've never roleplayed before and don't know them yet! You might also need some help in giving your roleplay partners something to work with in replies or creating a well balanced, unique character. Newer writers also fall into this category.

Things to Practice!

Take some time to go carefully over the rules of roleplaying. Familiarize yourself with roleplay etiquette and ask questions!

Work on giving more than just one or two sentences per reply, as well as grammar basics such as commas, capitalization, and punctuation. Utilize Discord's built in spell checker or an outside spell checker. Proof read your work.

Initiate
You're just starting to get the hang of this! Maybe you're new to roleplay or a little rusty in your writing. We're excited to help you start your journey to the top! Generally Initiates haven't quite learned the rules of the game yet and need a bit of guiding on what to do. They may also need practice in their spelling and grammar, or need to work on giving their partners a little more in a post to work with.

Things to Practice!

Keep practicing that grammar and spelling! Use the tools provided to help you, and practice the advice given to you when you ask questions. Work on moving away from putting your actions between asterisks (*) and on including proper quotes and punctuation for dialogue!

Work on your awareness when it comes to other players. Remember that roleplaying is cooperative writing, not fanfiction, and you're not the only one in the game. Ask yourself if you're giving your roleplay partner enough to work with for their replies, or maybe if you're dumping too much useless information on them. Remember that you can write a lot, but say very little, and that quality should always trump quantity.

Work on balancing out those characters! Watch out for personality pitfalls, iffy histories, and 'borrowed' or overpowered ability sets. Please note that while we're not very fond of the Mary Sue/Gary Stu terms, it's a good place to start to learn the rules. Very well loved characters such as Batman or Harry Potter share some 'Sue/Stu' traits, but are well written anyway. However, it's important to know the rules of something and why they are what they are before you can start knowing where and where you can't break them.

Student
You're about middling ground. You've still got a lot to learn, but you've covered a lot of ground! Students typically have a good grasp of grammar and spelling, with the occasional mistake, but may need help in the 'show don't tell' department or character development. You give your partners something to work with, but might need to work on the realism of your character's actions or on including the five senses in your posts.

Things to Practice!

When you post, make sure you're including proper spaces between paragraphs. There should be at least one full space between each new paragraph. This is to make things easier to read for other players.

Work on that character development! Remember that well rounded characters are developed on a lot of different levels. A good practice is to ask yourself, "But why," for every aspect of your character. If you can't answer that question, then that's a good place to do some character development. And remember, perfect characters are boring, but so are characters with no positive traits. Try to work towards a good balance. Having problems and things they can't do or need to improve on makes for good plot!

AP Student
You're doing great! AP stands for Advanced Placement, and you've got your roleplaying down pretty good now. You may have a few things to work on, but you're eager to learn and you're getting better every day.

Things to Practice!

Work on those character relations! This is a good point to start focusing on how to write your character in a way that better contributes to the roleplay world it's cast in. It's also a good point to better refine how you write your character. Doing research on aspects of their lives is a good way to start!

Honors
Congrats! You've graduated! You should always try to continue to improve. There's always more to learn, but you can access the Honors area now and apply to be a Mentor if that's what you would like to do. Please note that if you were placed in AP instead of Honors, it may not be a reflection of your writing skills. Almost no one save for well known, long time players are placed in Honors off the bat, because it requires a good grasp of character as well as responsibility out of character too, and it's impossible to tell those kinds of things from a sample post alone.

Things to Practice!

Consider applying to be a mentor! For those of you who are already mentors, it's always good to work on your teaching and constructive criticism skills!

Constructive Criticism

Learning any new skill can be a sensitive process, particularly when it's a creative one, because it's close to one's heart. It's important to know that constructive criticism in a creative skill is just as important as in something such as say, rock climbing, or math. You don't get better in a vacuum!

Let's look at what constructive criticism is first:

"Constructive criticism is the process of offering valid and well-reasoned opinions about the work of others, usually involving both positive and negative comments, in a friendly manner rather than an oppositional one."

Some examples might be,

"The steak you cooked was really tender, but it might be even better with a little rosemary and a little less salt next time. Thank you for cooking for me!"

"You're improving on your artwork, these colors look great! I have some books I could let you borrow on anatomy that might help you improve even more."

"You have a really strong grasp of your character's voice, but it looks like you could use a little help with grammar. These are some resources that helped me out!"

Let's look at what it's not:

A comment that attacks you or makes you feel guilty for enjoying your hobby.

A comment that is worded cruelly and without helpful advice.

"Advice" that brings another person down or urges them to quit trying to improve.

This is called Destructive Criticism, and it's not cool. If you ever experience this on JLU, bring it to Staff's attention because it is a form of bullying.

Some examples might be,

"You're not good at writing girl characters."

"The way you write is annoying."

"Your grammar sucks. You should just stop trying and find a new hobby."

Those are all pretty sucky things to say, right? That's not how we operate here. Not now, not ever, and we come down pretty hard on people who do. But let's suppose someone is trying to give you constructive criticism you didn't ask for, or that you don't agree with? That's pretty annoying too, right?

First of all, trying not to give criticism where it's not wanted. Sometimes people like to improve on their own time, and they're not in the right headspace to receive criticism at the moment. There can be a multitude of reasons for that. It's not up to you to know those reasons, or even agree, but you do have to respect that decision.

So on the other hand, you might have asked for help, but the response you got isn't really what you were looking for, or you really don't agree. What do you do?

Say, "Thank you." That's it. That's all you have to do. Say thank you and move on with your day, and usually people will leave it at that. They're not out to get you or make you have a bad day, after all. They were genuinely trying to help you, even if it kind of fell flat. So remember to be gracious all the same, and maybe even consider if there's not a nugget of wisdom in that advice, even if it rankles at the time.

If they keep on giving more advice and you've had enough, tell them so, but phrase it politely. "Thanks for the advice, I think that's all I need for now," usually gets the hint across in a way that doesn't hurt anyone's feelings.